Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-04T09:17:56.524Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

(r) we Americanised?

The emerging rhoticity features in China English

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 April 2018

Jian Li
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

“Spa(R) … Could you tell me where I can find a spa(r)?” “Are you sure you want to find a spar?” A Chinese traveller, inquiring about the nearest spa while on a tour in South Africa, left the local hotel receptionist confused. This anecdote involved the overuse of the R-colouring sound and aroused my interest in rhoticity in China English. Rhoticity in English refers to ‘the production of historical or orthographic /r/ in the syllable coda of words such as father and card” (Becker, 2014: 141). However, since the R-colouring sound in English, a simple allophone feature, does not distinguish word meanings, its pronunciation features and phonological environments have seldom been taught in EFL classes in China.

Type
Research Article
Information
English Today , Volume 35 , Issue 1 , March 2019 , pp. 28 - 35
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ao, R. & Low, E. 2012. ‘Exploring pronunciation features of Yunnan English.’ English Today, 28(3), 27–33.Google Scholar
Baskaran, L. 2004. ‘Malaysian English: Phonology.’ In Schneider, E. W., Burridge, K., Kortmann, B., Mesthrie, R. & Upton, C. (eds.), A Handbook of Varieties of English. Vol. 1: Phonology. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 1034–46.Google Scholar
Becker, K. 2014. ‘(r) we there yet? The change to rhoticity in New York City English.’ Language Variation and Change, 26(2), 141–68.Google Scholar
Bolton, K. 2003. A Sociolinguistic History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Bolton, K. & Graddol, D. 2012. ‘English in China today.’ English Today, 28(3), 3–9.Google Scholar
Campbell, L. 2004. Historical Linguistics: An Introduction. Cambridge: The MIT Press.Google Scholar
Clark, U. 2013. Language and Identity in Englishes. London; New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Deterding, D. 2006. ‘The pronunciation of English by speakers from China.’ English World-Wide, 27(2), 175–98.Google Scholar
Deterding, D. 2007. Singapore English. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.Google Scholar
Deterding, D., Wong, J. & Kirkpatrick, A. 2008. ‘The pronunciation of Hong Kong English.’ English World-Wide, 29(2): 148–75.Google Scholar
Hangzhou Daily. 1956. ‘GuowuyuanGuanyuTuiguang Putonghua de Zhishi (lit. The directive of the State Council on popularizing Putonghua).’ Hangzhou Daily, February 11, 2.Google Scholar
He, D. & Li, D. C. S. 2009. ‘Language attitudes and linguistic features in the “China English” debate.’ World Englishes, 28(1), 70–89.Google Scholar
Hickey, R. 2004. ‘South-East Asian Englishes.’ In Hickey, R. (ed.), Legacies of Colonial English: Studies in Transported Dialects. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 536–58.Google Scholar
Hu, X. 2005. ‘China English, at home and in the world.’ English Today, 21(3), 27–38.Google Scholar
Jiang, Y. J. 2003. ‘English as a Chinese language.’ English Today, 19(2), 3–8.Google Scholar
Kirkpatrick, A. 2007. World Englishes: Implications for International Communication and English Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Labov, W. 1963. ‘The social motivation of a sound change.’ Word, 19(3), 273–309.Google Scholar
Labov, W. 1966. The Social Stratification of English in New York City. Washington, DC: The Center for Applied Linguistics.Google Scholar
Low, E. & Brown, A. 2005. English in Singapore: An Introduction. Singapore: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
McArthur, T. 2002. The Oxford Guide to World English. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Norman, J. 1988. Chinese. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Poedjosoedarmo, G. 2000. ‘The media as a model and source of innovation in the development of Singapore Standard English.’ In Brown, A., Deterding, D. & Ling, L. (eds.), The English Language in Singapore: Research on Pronunciation. Singapore: Singapore Association for Applied Linguistics, pp. 112–20.Google Scholar
Poon, F. 2006. ‘Hong Kong English, China English and World English.’ English Today, 22(2), 23–28.Google Scholar
Rajadurai, J. 2006. ‘Pronunciation issues in non-native contexts: A Malaysian case study.’ Malaysian Journal of ELT Research, 2, 42–59.Google Scholar
Siegel, J. 2003. ‘Social context.’ In Doughty, C. J. & Long, M. H. (eds.), The Handbook of Second Language Acquisition. Malden, MA: Blackwell, pp. 178–223.Google Scholar
Sharbawi, S. & Deterding, D. 2010. ‘Rhoticity in Brunei English.’ English World-Wide, 31(2), 121–37.Google Scholar
Sundkvist, P. & Gao, M. 2016. ‘Rhoticity in “Yunnan English”.’ World Englishes, 35(1), 42–59.Google Scholar
Tan, C. H. & Gupta, A. F. 1992. ‘Post-vocalic /r/ in Singapore English.’ York Papers in Linguistics, 16, 139–52.Google Scholar
Wei, R. & Su, J. 2012. ‘The statistics of English in China.’ English Today, 28(3), 10–14.Google Scholar
Wells, J. C. 1982. Accents of English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar